There I was walking down 7th avenue in the heart of New York City a few blocks north of west 48th street music row.   Just ahead of me were two of the vice-presidents of Sam Ash music or the ‘Brass’ as my co-works refer to them. To the left of me was Ralph Chreiman the regional sales rep for the Martin guitar company and to my right was Roger Mcguinn  founder of the legendary 60’s folk/rock band the Byrd’s!   We were  on our way to ‘Ruth-Chris’ steak house on west 51 street for a ‘folk rock ‘ power lunch!  Even a metal head rocker like myself is aware of the impact the Byrd’s had on popular music. Their mega hits “Turn Turn Turn” & “Mr. Tambrine Man” still sound as fresh as they did 35 years ago.

Ralph arranged Roger and the Sam Ash crew  to simultaneously  review the new Roger Mcguinn Martin signature limited edition guitar that was in its final design stage.  The unique feature of the instrument is that it has 7 strings!  How it was designed in fact was that the G string had an octave G string paired up. Just like a 12 string guitar!  I must say after hearing Rogers’s mini-concert in the store (that drew applause from the lucky shoppers that happened to wonder in the store at that very moment) and a few strums myself, that prototype was a total killer!  Before we left for the steak house, I ran over to my computer for a quick refresher look at Rogers web site. I figured it would be a good idea to have some ‘inside info’ to share at our  ‘folk rock’ power lunch!

Lets see, early in his career Roger played guitar in a band fronted by Bobby Darin. (Wow Roger jamming with the mac the knife man, I never knew that! ) He later moved to New York city and perfected his folk style downtown  in the coffee houses of Greenwich village . It wasn’t long before he teamed up with the one and only David Crosby and started one of the most influential bands of the ‘60’s the Byrd’s.  After another quick glance at my computer screen and a check of Rogers equipment listed on his web-site  I was ready for the ‘folk rock’ power lunch!

After we were seated and placed our orders the talk at the table finally turned to music.  Roger   was very engaging while he told us a brief history of the Byrd’s and of that era in music in general.  I asked Roger about the new ‘compression unit’ he was now using  with his Rickenbacker electric guitar.  Everyone’s eyes at the table opened wide when Roger eagerly shared his ‘set up’ secrets with us. (a little  web surfing goes a long way!)

He discussed his stage monitor set up and also the  vocal microphone he prefers.  Roger explained to us that he performs about fifty solo shows a year and he   carries only 3 guitars with him on the road :Rickenbacker 370 Roger Mcguinn model, Martin Acoustic 12 string and the new Martin Roger Mcuinn. 7 string)  Now the talk at the table was really rolling along.  I asked Roger about his vocal preparation for the gigs, explaining that I do a couple of ‘solo acoustic shows’ a month my self and I would appreciate his advice.  He and I compared vocal warm ups tips even including the correct diet for singers!   As dinner was winding down  Roger passed around  autographed copies of his new CD he brought along for us.

Thinking back  I realized no matter what type of music you may be into, from classic to jazz, rock to folk all musicians do share a common brotherhood!